Strengths/Achievements

Mixed voice is light and lacks pushing, not trying to sing too high with too much throat tension

Able to remain relatively relaxed up to C#4 and at times even D4

Sense of pitch has improved since debut

Sufficient support is maintained down to C3 in his chest voice

Points for Improvement

Tends to sing with too much airiness

Support is shallow and underdeveloped

Tends to lower his larynx too often when singing

Above C#4, he tends to sound harsh and flat

Tone production often becomes flat due to lack of forward placement

Lower range is relatively underdeveloped for a baritone

Unable to support his head voice

Falsetto is often too airy and lacks projection

Registers

Lower register: Due to the range in which BTS’ music is written in, he gets very few chances to showcase the true development of his lower range. Thus, his voice is relatively underdeveloped in his lower range for a baritone, where his tone production becomes muffled as he sings below C3.

Mixed register: His mixed voice is relatively light in terms of mixing, where he uses more head voice than chest voice when singing higher to minimize the amount of effort and strain on his vocal cords. Although able to sing above his first passaggio, his support is somewhat shallow and he tends to become tense above C#4.

Upper register: Able to transition into his falsetto with relatively ease, his overall tone production is airy throughout most of his voice but becomes fairly obvious as he sings in his falsetto. Able to produce a connected head voice even though support isn’t present.

Agility

Drawing less influences from R&B than many other idol vocalists in K-pop, V generally sings with an airy approach throughout his range and doesn’t often attempt singing vocal runs. The airiness in his voice makes it harder for him to be able to connect his vocal cords properly and control his pitch. This results in often sloppy runs when he does attempt them, in rare occasions. Perhaps aware that his voice isn’t necessarily very agile, as he lacks the correct muscle coordination to sing and bounce through different notes quickly, it is hard to find examples of V attempting vocal runs. The few times he’s done so, it’s possible to hear that he lacks clarity in tone and often sings runs by sliding through the notes quickly, without hitting each individual pitch precisely at the center of the note. This causes his runs to sound sloppy and pitchy overall, as heard in “Sorry“, “Little Star“, and “듣는편지.”

Overall analysis

V debuted as a member of the vocal line of BTS in 2013. Although not the main vocalist, the distribution of lines was even enough that he sang relatively often regardless of him being a lead vocalist or not. In most cases, idol groups favor vocalists with higher voices because most idol songs are written within quite high ranges, for males and females. Thus it is more common to see a main or lead vocalist of a group be a tenor or a soprano. In BTS’ case, V’s voice stands out because he is the only baritone singing with other three tenors in the group, although every rapper in BTS is also a baritone. His voice is thick in tone and slightly lower range, but still remaining relatively light in weight and sounding more like a lyric baritone than anything else. Although mostly written for a lower tenor range, BTS’ music is written within a relatively low enough range where V is able to sing alongside the tenors without too much stress on his vocal cords.

Considering most tenor songs generally are written above C3, V as a baritone gets very few chances to actually sing in a more baritone-like range most of the time. Thus his lower range below C3 is mostly underdeveloped and not very well explored, as he doesn’t sing that low very often. Down to C3, he has shown a clear enough consistency of tone production and projection, where both his vocal cords and his support work together to allow his chest voice to project with decent tonality. This can be heard in “안아줘“, “Oh Happy Day!” and “Someone Like You.” Below C3, however, he starts to lose connection and support, as his voice starts to become more muffled and breathier. This seems to be because his vocal cords aren’t developed enough as he sings lower, so his tone becomes less clear as he’s unable to project and place his voice in his chest as easily as above C3. This can be heard in with the Bb2’s in “If You“, A2’s in “안아줘“, G2’s in “Let Me Know” and the octave unison E2’s in “Someone Like You.”

His mixed voice is relatively well developed in terms of mixing and has enough support for him to be able to sing above his first passaggio, B3, without tensing up his throat too much. The range from C4 to D4 can be sung with some support as he’s able to remain relaxed and not sing only from his throat. This can be heard in “바람인가요“, “듣는편지” and “안아줘.” As he ascends above D4, he tends to use a very light mixed voice which is mostly head dominant, which allows him to push his voice with less tension than if he were to use a heavier and louder chest-dominant mixed voice. Nonetheless, the lack of support above D4 causes him to sound shallow and thin the higher he sings, as his voice becomes too light and oftentimes he can sound somewhat flat when singing above his comfort range. He tends to sing with a soft approach, but tension is still present in his throat as he’s unable to connect his breath support to his vocal cords in order to maintain his throat opened. This can be heard in the D4’s in “Something“, Eb4’s in “눈, 코, 입“, E4’s in “If I Ain’t Got You“, “Someone Like You“, F4’s in “I NEED U“, “If You“, “Butterfly“, F#4’s in “Let Me Know“, “Love is not Over“, G4’s in “Bang Bang Bang“, “안아줘” “눈, 코, 입“, “이사” and G#4’s in “잡아줘.”

His upper register mostly consists of a falsetto, with occasional moments where he’s shown the ability to use a head voice. Most of the time his vocal cords aren’t fully connected and he sings with excessive airiness, which causes him to sound thin and soft in his upper register, mostly associated with a falsetto voice. Although relaxed to an extent, a falsetto is not a register where true support can be present. Support would only be truly present if he were to use his head voice properly, however the few times V has shown a head voice have shown that he has issues with maintaining the connection of breath support with his vocal cords, where he instead pushes too much air against his vocal cords instead of allowing them to produce his head voice with their own strength and development. This results in a head voice that lacks control, by not being relaxed nor supported. This can be heard when contrasting his falsetto in “듣는편지“, “House of Cards“, “눈, 코, 입“, “Butterfly” and “Miss Right” with his head voice in “How Am I Supposed to Live Without You.” Interestingly enough he is the only member of the vocal line to be able to push his head voice all the way up to the sixth octave, higher than any of the tenors. This can be heard with the C6 in a high note battle during a fan meeting as well as the D6 in a more recent fanmeeting.

One of V’s main issues actually come from his tendency to push his larynx down when singing and not fully maintaining his vocal cords connected throughout his range. When your vocal cords aren’t fully connected, a lot of air can pass through causing the vocalist to sound breathy and soft. Stylistically this can work in many cases, but training yourself to only be able to sing that way can cause the vocalist to limit their vocal development. If the vocal cords don’t fully come together when singing, the vocalist will be unable to allow their vocal cords to become stronger and develop in terms of volume, range and muscle strength.

Adding onto this, V usually favors lowering his larynx and opening the back of his throat a lot more than necessary when singing even within a relatively high range. Most of the time, V’s voice can be perceived as quite deep but actually when a vocalist pushes their larynx down, it alters the natural tone of their voice and causes their voice to sound much deeper than it really is. This is often a stylistic approach used in soul music, that can be turned on and off at will. However for V it’s either this approach, airy and overly opened in the back of throat while not fully relaxed, or a harsh growly approach. Only having two options can be limiting to a vocalist if they’re unable to grasp breath support fully yet. Since V tends to push the sound of his voice in the back of his throat a lot, the direction of air from his voice isn’t properly placed in his nasal cavities, which makes it harder for him to understand mask placement and project his voice. As such, he tends to sound slightly flat in tone production the higher he sings due to lacking a good connection of proper breath support, an open throat and a forward mask placed sound.

When comparing V to the other vocalists of BTS, it is possible to hear that both he and Jungkook are the most relaxed out of all four of them. They have the least issues with tension and have a relatively decent range in which their voices are more or less supported, even though support may be shallow. However things can get tricky when comparing a tenor to a baritone, as being a baritone and having to sing in the same exact range as a tenor puts V at a clear disadvantage. Truthfully BTS’ music isn’t written for a high tenor range but it is still a challenging range for a baritone to be singing in. The passaggio is where the voice naturally lifts and the muscle coordination becomes slightly different, as sort of a bridge between a register and the next. The first passaggio is the transition from chest voice to mixed voice, while the second one is from mixed voice to head voice. A lyric tenor’s passaggi are usually around D4/Eb4 and G4/Ab4, while a lyric baritone’s passaggi are B3 and E4.

If V were to sing the same song as Jungkook for an example, but the key was changed to suit his voice as a baritone, he’d be able to handle singing above his first passaggio slightly better than Jungkook would. So the only true difference between them is that V has a slightly better grasp of breath support. However given the fact that V can’t simply change the key of every BTS song there is to suit his voice, he has to sing in the same exact range as the other three tenors. So naturally within the range that these songs are written in, Jungkook is the most qualified member to handle singing their repertoire. If V were to look into more solo singing opportunities, understanding his own voice type and embracing the true tone of his voice could help him develop his voice better as a baritone if he could sing in a range that’s natural to his voice. For future improvements, working on further developing connection between his vocal cords to be able to handle more dynamic changes, while developing his breath support could help V develop his vocal technique better overall. However for the time being, his current skill level is adequate for the type of music he sings.

Musicianship

V is not much of a risk taker when it comes to his vocals and singing. He tends to sing with one specific style and doesn’t deviate much from that specific sound. He tends to choose either a harsh growly sound or a soft airy sound, which remains the same throughout most of his vocal performances. He doesn’t often try to add his own melodic changes to songs and instead chooses to sing songs as they’re originally written. When given the chance however, he does like to add his own twist to his vocal cords and is able to blend his voice with others and even himself when adding layers of harmonies to his vocal performances. One example would be the added harmonies present in his studio cover of “Someone Like You”, where he sang the song in the key he felt was most comfortable for his voice, adding his own octave unisons and harmonies throughout.

Not an admin, but I have taken lessons from Ahmin and talked about this with him- runs are all about control over precision of pitch and flexibility of the vocal cords. Practicing chromatic scales at different speeds will help you increase the vocal cord stretch and flexibility

Jin and Jimin really went to Bang pd and told 'Fake Love' high notes are too high for them awww babies :((( So that part was Jin's part from the beginning coz he was the one of two members who can pull off that high note. I stan #leJINdary_Vocalspic.twitter.com/LNsDCsmWhL

I admire that person to take Jin’s statement and draw the completely wrong conclusions from it, namely that this is an example of how talented they are. Jin is literally saying it’s too hard for him (and Jimin) and that’s the only thing they hear? The boys are basically calling out the company for making them sing in a way that’s uncomfortable for them, but the fangirls are just proving the company right by again over-praising these strained high notes as the pinnacle of singing talent.

Yeah, it’s pretty troublesome, they’re basically exposing their company’s dismissing of their comfort because it’s just… what the producer wants and final point, but the fandom takes it completely wrong. I don’t know if this was in one of AhMin’s videos, but there was a video where a vocalist couldn’t reach the notes in studio recording and all the producer said to her was to scream/shout the note. I was terribly reminded of that.

Hello I had a query :
I’m assuming you heard their most recent album love yourself: tear
I’m no music expert though in this album their voices in the side tracks feels as though they are quite comfortable with singing this way
And they aren’t much of high notes unless we include magic shop.
If you do reply I’don’t be extrEmily happy

I’m one of those people who solely rely on emotions which come with the song which according to me bts are able to express quite well (?)

the notes in Fake Love are really high for Jin and Jimin, they have had trouble performing them live. Jin either does it in falsetto or doesn’t do it at all, which was obvious for all performances where the backing track wasn’t super loud. And Jimin strained a lot for those notes too. The rest is hard to say cause they haven’t performed most of the album songs live, and Airplane and Anpanman seem fairly comfortable to sing for them.

Honey your boy had so much trouble singing stigma, a song sang 90% in falsetto with no choreo, while Jimin did lie using 80% head voice and chest voice while doing insane choreo and nailed it 90% of times..you want to talk vocals at least Jimin is aware of his range unlike tae..

None of them have proper established vocal cord coordination, support nor placement. To compare them is really childish, unnecessary and uncalled for. No, this isn’t true. They both have many shortcomings when singing any of their repertoire.

Ehh I always thought Jungkook is the strongest in BTS and no one else came close. It’s weird because I keep hearing heavy autotune in Taehyung’s voice in almost every BTS songs. Or maybe that’s just BTS style. To be fair I haven’t heard him sing non bts song too 😂
Or it’s just his voice. Because I swear sometimes my voice sounds like it’s autotuned even though I dont have the tool. Do you know this type of voice?

I’m not an army too but a tae stans ( no need to pretend coz I’m a proud fan of him ) I’m not a singer but his voice sounds really good to me .. especially when he is singing acapella .. he’s stable live too

It’s perfectly okay for you to like his voice. We’re not trying to get you to dislike the tone of his voice, but just be educated about his technique. I’m curious though as to what you mean by he’s “stable” live.

OK, I don’t know if what I’m about to say will make sense, but here goes. I have been trying to wrap my head around you say Tae is the strongest vocalist and what support is. I think I might have figured it out?

I’m not a professional singer, but can hold a pretty decent tune. I was singing Fake Love today and randomly trying to imitate the vocal line’s live voices in the song. There was a distinct difference in how I had to sing to mimic Taehyung’s voice versus the others. I found that when imitating Jungkook, Jin and especially Jimin I was singing mostly in my throat. But when I was trying to imitate Taehyung I had felt like I had to contract my abdomen to get the level of power he has in his voice (the “love you so mad” part). Is this what is meant by support?

No not necessarily because the gap between them isn’t large. It’s just a degree of being relaxed, mostly in covers where he sings more naturally. Lately he sings by pushing his tongue back inward and his voice sounds thicker than his natural tone. Currently with that style he’s not singing with better technique than the others, he’s just shown that when he wants to, he can but the gap is so small. Support is a feeling of being grounded and in control, you’re describing pushing.

Hi Ahmin, recently ı watched Summer Packed 2018. I saw that Taehyung could hold his breath under water for 1 minute and 27 seconds. This shows the capacity of his lungs, doesn’t it? I don’t know if this is positive or negative for him, but I can’t hold my breath for 30 seconds under water. Can I get the thoughts on this subject?

The kind of breathing used for singing versus for running, swimming or even yoga isn’t the same. My father can hold his breath underwater for about 5 minutes but that doesn’t mean he supports when he sings.

Hi Ahmin, did you watch their last concert performances? Jimin’s voice better recordings but weaker concert performances. Jungkook did well and Taehyung did well aside from that sustained note (and took his wisdom tooth only 4 days ago) as far as I could hear. I didn’t hear the beginning of the song. But honestly I don’t really hear much improvement in their technique compared to like Wings tour. They’re just singing more stuff in their range. I know people always gush about their vocal improvement every comeback, but when I listen to them live they sound pretty much the same as always to me. Some general improvement due to practice, sure, but not much in a technical sense. Slightly more relaxed for more of their range perhaps.

Recently I haven’t been really giving full performance reviews or answered video questions unless I had already seen them before. However I wanted to respond and acknowledge your comment and say I agree with you on your comments generally. Also I’m shocked he sang shortly after removing his wisdom tooth. That doesn’t sound very advisable.

I don’t know that but thank you for answering me.^^ Yeah, ı remember mine. I have not slept properly for two weeks with jaw pain. But he gave a concert for two days, and it has rehearsals and so on. He probably had to continue, because he couldn’t cancel it his schedules.

I’m just curious to see if he has improved at his techniques. (I really hope he did) I’m not really sure how to tell but sometimes I feel he’s not hitting the notes right during lives but I can be wrong. For me at least, he sounds like he plugging his nose sometimes. Not sure if that was intentional. On the contrary, he sometimes sounds amazing and just like the studio version. Here are some links to him singing live recently:

It won’t let me reply to your last comment, but when you said it sounds like he’s plugging his nose sometimes – he said in the Vlive they did in LA that he was sick with a cold. That could be the reason why.

Jimin sings at 2:05 and his voice cracks (?) at 2:16 or so, then there’s Jin after him who goes flat/sharp (I’m not good at identifying that) at 2:28 or so? Tae starts at 2:37 and sounds a bit off in a way I can’t specify?? It would be great if you could comment on this, fandom is discussing this quite a lot at the moment lol. I see a lot of people say that Jimin and Taehyung “messed up” but to me Tae sounds more or less okay…? Is he hitting the right notes? I’m really confused.

2:05? I didn’t quite a crack, there are some issues with the transitions being smooth though. 2:13 he is pretty tight there, like his throat is more closed than usual. 2:28 Yes he did go flat. 2:37 He is pushing quite a bit, since his voice is lower, to sing in that range he needs to make more effort with the way he sings, considering his current technique. I mean uhm “messed up” is a very generic way of putting anything. Because they generally have issues with singing with a closed throat and straining generally, and pitchiness too. This isn’t necessarily new, but Jimin particularly sounds tighter than usual. V was singing the right notes in terms of pitch. He was straining, he was pushing, he had a little crack. Yes but this isn’t new exactly.

I watched this already. He was pitchy, quite pitchy on his runs especially. The chorus carried a lot of throat tension and overall he was just airy throughout with not enough connection, not enough support and tongue tension throughout. This isn’t anything new, at all. Please do make your questions more specific because did he do well is a very difficult question to answer cause I don’t know what your standard for well is.

Hey! Thank you so much for this analysis! Taehyung is actually one of my favorite voices overall and it’s nice to have a vocal analysis of him to understand more about his singing. I actually ran into several posts about BTS’s vocals just recently and they said that it’s Jin (not Taehyung and even one of them said that he has the “worst” technique along with Jimin even if she acknowledged Taehyung’s voice type as a baritone) that has the best technique out of all of them because they said he “actually breathes while singing” and used the BTS x CP collaboration performance as evidence to prove their point, and sadly so many people agreed on that (including on how Taehyung along with Jimin has the “worst” technique in the group). I know all along that Taehyung has the best technique out of all BTS though BTS’s vocals isn’t BTS’s strongest point and Jin has a really nice vocal color. However, I think the reason that they said Jin is because Jin’s vocal range is similar to Jungkook’s and most of BTS’s songs are written in favor of Jungkook’s voice and range, so Jin has to struggle less than Taehyung (the only baritone in the group) in their songs, and partially sympathizing with the underdog, which is Jin, since Taehyung is one of the more popular members and this fandom tries too hard to “even” the members out in terms of contribution and popularity in BTS. This is no means to bash Jin since Jin has a pretty voice and is pretty stable in live performances, but just need clarification on Jin and Taehyung. Thanks! 🙂

I had to look it up to make sure about it, because I forgot that you said it was recorded in 2012. Yeah I suppose it’s him, but I agree. It sounds almost nothing like him, I hear no support at all in his singing from 2012. This was purely all in his throat, which makes sense kind of in the E4, F#4 area but even the lower parts it was just…pushed throaty singing all the way. I’m kind of shocked. His singing changed a lot from 2012, style wise mostly.

Hello! I have a few questions regarding several recent clips of BTS’s vocal line (esp. of one regarding Taehyung and Jungkook, who you wrote analyses for)-one is the TTU performance from Singapore and the other one was a MGA behind-the-scenes clip of Taehyung helping Jungkook practice for his Charlie Puth duet (this one is probably not a best representation as to be fair, Jungkook was probably nervous so probably going to be a little more lenient but I guess it can offer some sort of insight to their vocal technique and condition overall at that time as this was filmed hours before the infamous Charlie Puth x BTS Fake Love fiasco).

For the TTU Singapore one, the reviewer from the Straits Times had less positive things to say about the vocal line in general for the Singapore concert (as quote: “The vocal performances had room for improvement – they faltered on some high notes and their vocals belied exhaustion or felt strained at times.” (ok tbh the emphasis on high notes is a little too much (and as I remember from your video about KPOP baritones, people do love high notes) but I can understand the rest of the criticism)) and as the only vocal line performance was TTU, I guess this was a primary basis for her (or his) criticism of the vocal line, but with some timestamps (with accompanying questions), can you provide some details on how the vocal line did in this section of the TTU performance:

0:03-0:20 Taehyung’s part: 0:06-0:20 He sounds fine, but sounds like he’s singing outside his comfort range most of the time (from what I can hear pitch-wise from listening)? 0:10-0:13 Does he sound a little tense there (he seems to emphasize more on emotion)? 0:17 Is the E4 sang in a head-dominant mixed voice or head voice (sounds slightly strained, but sounds like one of his better ones idk)?? 0:19-0:20 The ad-lib sounds beautiful but lacks originality idk (???) but can it count towards musicality for him?

0:20-0:55 Jungkook’s first part: He sounds a little nasal and whiny in this part, sounds like he’s placing in his nose (but to be fair, he was sick in this concert, so could that be the reason?)? 0:33-0:35 Is he using his head voice to sing the note or is it a head-dominant mixed voice? 0:40-0:45 Is he using a soft falsetto in this part, because apparently I heard he’s trying to use his head voice for the higher notes more as much as possible 0:51-0:54 Is this falsetto again?

0:55-1:11 Jin’s part (ft.Taehyung’s harmonies): Some fans said that Jin improved based on this performance (and he sounds fine)-it seems like he’s not as hunched over while singing as his previous performances and slightly more relaxed even if he’s still tense in some degree (I could be wrong on this though); is there any sign of support in Jin’s singing in this part, and how are his breathing mechanisms? Also, how did Taehyung do with his harmonies (can it also count towards musicality)? 1:09-1:12 There’s a little figure wearing dark blue at the right, which is Jin, and what I can see, he’s attempting to hit the high note, but it looks like he’s bending back a bit too much? Also, does the high note sound a little too closed, does it sound a little throat-based from what I can hear?

1:12-1:35 Jimin’s part (ft. Jungkook’s harmonies): sounds like one of his stronger live performances, but the high note at 1:25-1:29 though, it sounds pretty strained (but not sure how much though) and looks like he’s bending back a bit too much also and is he using his head voice for the high note or is it throat-based as well? Also, even if it’s one of his stronger performances imo, he still sounds a little tense (???). Also, how did Jungkook do with his harmonies (can it also count towards musicality)?

1:37-1:48 Jungkook’s second part: he sounds less whiny and nasal and placement was better (???).

1:55-1:58 Jimin’s second part: his first part sounds stronger than this part tbh

Other than the fact that it was probably one of Jimin’s stronger live performances and Jin seemingly looks a little more relaxed in this performance, nothing new (idk about Jin though), right? They honestly sound the same to me (idk about Jin though).

As for this clip from MGA behind-the-scenes, Jungkook seems to be singing with a nasal mixed or head voice while Taehyung sounds a little exhausted (as again, it was hours before the CP x BTS Fake Love fiasco-so is vocal exhaustion/fatigue present there?) and is probably singing outside his comfort range. How did these two did overall (though doesn’t sound like anything new here tbh)?

Also, news is that Taehyung is about to release his new self-produced/composed solo (as a fan of his voice and “Singularity”, I’m really excited and looking forward to it), I hope that gets to sing in his lower and middle registers (at highest) more for his new song. When it comes out, do you mind technically evaluating how he did? Thanks and highly appreciate it! 🙂

Sorry for asking you too many questions (I think learning about vocal technique is fun tbh even if one is not planning to do anything with music) or if I sound bothersome, but I highly appreciate what you do overall (also, in one of his MAMA speeches, Taehyung said he wants to improve his singing, and someone definitely needs to send this vocal analysis to him (not only will it give him insight on what he can improve overall but I think it should boost some confidence in him as well (with the known “stigma” (exaggerated, but pun-intended lol) against baritones in KPOP) as it doesn’t seem like he’s confident in his singing at all (low self-esteem???) from what I can see (which is honestly so sad for me, because I love him for his talents).). Thanks! 😀

Hello there! Sorry your comment was spammed so I didn’t see it until now! I’m here now, let me see how I can help you.

0:19-0:20 I’m not sure I know the song well enough to talk about the adlib being original, but it was fine. It wasn’t anything particularly difficult musically. Honestly he was very very pitchy and it isn’t just a specific part that was outside his comfort zone, the whole thing is very high for him. He is consistently on E4 ~ G#4, that’s very high for him. 0:17 The E4 you highlighted is not head voice and not even head dominant. It’s much closer to chest voice is quite shallow and pushed from the throat. There were some moments where he was less pitchy, but above 0:10 he was especially pitchy. Could be that his condition was especially not good that day. Lots of tongue tension throughout.

0:20-0:55 Yes nasality isn’t new for him. He was also slightly flat on his G#4’s and his larynx was high but that’s not new either around here. 0:31 he got pitchier here. 0:33-0:35 Specifically here it was mixed. 0:40-0:45 Yes, I’d say it’s more of a falsetto. 0:51-0:54 It was actually mixed here, a lighter sort of breathier falsetto.

0:55-1:11 I’d count harmonies more towards musicianship than musicality personally but that is not an exact math. I don’t personally hear improvement, I hear the same shallow singing that I know him for. A lot of tightness and throatiness. 1:09-1:12 The note that Jin is singing is an E4, and it’s shallow and in his throat. The highest note was sung by V but it was quite light. G#4 I believe.

1:12-1:35 Yes the high note is pretty strained but it is Bb4. Again for vocalists with very underdeveloped support like Jimin or any of them, I’d be more interested in how they’d perform phrasing with more support on a more comfortable range, not their high notes. The note wasn’t head voice, it was a very shouty mix. I wouldn’t say he was more tense than usual, he was as tense throughout as he usually is. And I’d say Jungkook was adlibbing more than harmonizing, so it is hard to talk about his harmonies.

1:37-1:48 He is singing in a soft falsetto, it’s similar to how he sang this specifically part before.

1:55-1:58 He was half whispering here, it’s hard to say anything much other than that.

I agree with you, they sound the same as usual. There’s absolutely nothing new in these performances.

Honestly nothing new again. The normal tight mixed singing for Jungkook, pushed chesty too high for a baritone of his development for V. Plus he didn’t know the lyrics so he was mumbling half of this.

I know that by now I think V’s new song probably already came out. If there’s a live, I don’t mind listening to it if you feel there’s anything new to be addressed.

Oh no it’s fine if you want to learn! I like answering questions to those who want to learn, not those who simply want self-validation. I agree completely with you, for all of the vocalists on this blog, all I want for them is for them all to improve their own singing. To be self-aware, to challenge themselves, to learn and get better. To only go up from there. Thank you for your kind comment, I really appreciate it.

Sorry for the delayed reply, but thank you so much for the detailed response. I highly appreciate it! From the Singapore concert though, it seemed like Tae was doing fine. However, thinking about it, he was sick with a cold/flu/sore throat throughout much of the tour starting from the LA (Los Angeles) tour to the Paris tour, and in his Seasons Greetings video, he admitted that his health was poor throughout the tour since he was so sick (so his stamina was poor). Could that any way affect his condition (especially singing) further in time (even if he’s still recovering from his illness) since he had no to little recovery from his illness (especially with a flu or sore throat) while touring at the same time?
Thank you! 🙂

I haven’t heard him sing an Eb6, so no he hasn’t showcased a full 4 octaves yet. Which is what I believe you meant, right? Not supporting because V barely supports over an octave, and I don’t know a single vocalist who can support a full 4 octaves.

Hi Ahmin. I saw in another comment that you’d be willing to listen to and assess a live of Taehyung singing his new song. Here it is… can you tell us what you think? I value your opinion, and want to know if you’ve noticed any improvement? Thanks! https://youtu.be/n_vMzp3UKwM?t=14

Hi of course! Someone posted a different link with better audio quality so I’ll link it with the commentary.

He has support and connection happening throughout, but then he’s swallowing his sound by pushing his tongue back a little. It isn’t too tense or anything, it’s just making his sound muffled. 0:15 D3 here, he lost projection and it’s not that low for him. 0:20 nice harmony whoever did it. 0:24 he went off key here, he sang Bb3 when it was supposed to be A3. 0:33 His tongue tension gets more noticeable as he goes higher and this quick C4, one of his highest supported note, shows that. It’s where the limit of his support ends for sure. The C4’s around 0:38 aren’t bad, 0:46 he lost connection there. 0:48 his falsetto is okay, it’s mostly relaxed if you didn’t pay attention to the tongue tension. 0:51 slightly sharp. 0:56 he lost the key center here, he went sharp and then flat. 1:01 He’s pretty pitchy here, he lost the key center completely until the end. This was okay in terms of technique cause it didn’t go anywhere that he couldn’t support in his mix. It was all kind of soft, kind of airy, tongue tension present throughout. Pitchiness as well, but all in all nothing new. It’s all things he’s been known to have issues on and his support is more or less there as it usually is. The pitchiness usually happens for him in his falsetto more than his mix. He’s become pitchier than he used to be but that might be because of being tired. But I’m afraid, there’s no improvement. The falsetto doesn’t carry support at all.

Hi. The link above is Taehyung singing his new single, Scenery, live. Can you tell me how he did? I kinda feel like his voice was shaky and I’m not sure if he had proper support for those higher notes. Of course, I can be very wrong, so please tell me what you think. Thanks!

Hi dear! Let me take a listen. He has support and connection happening throughout, but then he’s swallowing his sound by pushing his tongue back a little. It isn’t too tense or anything, it’s just making his sound muffled. 0:15 D3 here, he lost projection and it’s not that low for him. 0:20 nice harmony whoever did it. 0:24 he went off key here, he sang Bb3 when it was supposed to be A3. 0:33 His tongue tension gets more noticeable as he goes higher and this quick C4, one of his highest supported note, shows that. It’s where the limit of his support ends for sure. The C4’s around 0:38 aren’t bad, 0:46 he lost connection there. 0:48 his falsetto is okay, it’s mostly relaxed if you didn’t pay attention to the tongue tension. 0:51 slightly sharp. 0:56 he lost the key center here, he went sharp and then flat. 1:01 He’s pretty pitchy here, he lost the key center completely until the end. This was okay in terms of technique cause it didn’t go anywhere that he couldn’t support in his mix. It was all kind of soft, kind of airy, tongue tension present throughout. Pitchiness as well, but all in all nothing new. It’s all things he’s been known to have issues on and his support is more or less there as it usually is. The pitchiness usually happens for him in his falsetto more than his mix. He’s become pitchier than he used to be but that might be because of being tired. But I’m afraid, there’s no improvement. The falsetto doesn’t carry support at all.

Thank you so much for your detailed input. I understand a lot more now. It’s a bit upsetting no improvements were shown, but it’s true, he must be a bit tired since they have a world tour going on. I’m happy as long as he doesn’t regress which seems like he hasn’t.

Your vocal analysis on V is fascinating and extremely informative. I noticed that you mentioned how the BTS rappers are baritones. As I know nothing about vocal theory, I was wondering if you could briefly explain why they are baritones? I’m really curious. Thanks

Hello! Actually before I answer your question, the way you phrased it made me kind of confused and curious. So I’d like to ask if you understand what a baritone is. I just want to know how I could better answer your question.

On the r/bangtan subreddit (do you have a Reddit account btw?), some people are discrediting you based on what they’ve been fed by those YouTube vocal coaches (on how those YouTube vocal coaches have “refuted” you many times and I think that’s their source). They accused your blogs about Taehyung and Jungkook of being outdated (since they’re written in 2016) though you have said that you will update them if you see any improvement from any of them based on material that you have seen (like how you updated EXO main vocalists’ blogs in the middle of their career years ago), and discrediting your credibilities as a vocal instructor and professional overall (like trying to overcompensate the reason why Jungkook is the main vocalist). On behalf, I would like to apologize for the mess in that post and also for me too as I think I caused some of the mess as well (just to defend you and your statements and another user who was defending your statements as well).

this makes me feel so bad for Taehyung. The fandom is clearly really biased against him, look at all those downvotes for anyone who said he was one of the better ones/the best. I’m shocked, I thought reddit had more OT7 armys. I mean someone wrote Jin was the best one and got upvoted for it, which as much as I like Jin is very clearly untrue, but write the same about Taehyung and you’re at -7. I didn’t realise Taehyung was so undervalued as a vocalist in his own fandom. I’m betting it’s just cause he’s got a deeper voice and usually sounds different in the lives than the recordings (cause they always pitch him up in the recordings). Sometimes I see people commenting that he “messed up” a performance, when he’s not even doing anything different from the others. That’s just his voice, and it’s no more tired and strained than the tenors’ but for some reason apparently that doesn’t register with people as clearly?

It’s Okay thank you for your positive intentions but I’d rather save myself the stress and not read this. People like to talk about what they don’t know, and I don’t understand that mentality but it’s okay.

Hello, again (wow, I think I’m commenting a little too much under the comment section by now lol)!

Just recently, BTS had a live performance of “Make It Right” on Stephen Colbert, and I’m just wondering how they did overall. Based on studio recording, except for the beginning of the song performed by V then Jimin and one part from JHope, I thought that much of the song was done in falsetto and I thought they also did that live as well (or maybe I don’t remember the song too well in top of my head lol), but I can be wrong. Is there anywhere in their performance (you can disregard RM and Suga since they’re rapping) when they’re not using falsetto aside from the beginning which is up to 0:46 (after Jimin finishes his own part), and if there is such a part, then how did that certain member do? Any improvements from any of them?

Now, since this is a V/Taehyung post, specific analysis/pitchiness about V/Taehyung based on time stamps (correct me if I’m wrong lol):
0:21-0:33 – this should be a comfortable range for him (I think this should be upper-lower to low-middle range for him but I can be wrong), but I think that he’s doing this all stylistically with (very) shallow support (???): it’s pretty soft and airy and I feel that he’s going for that usual tongue pushing back to the back of the tongue habit to lower his larynx around 0:29. There might be slight pitchiness as well (is there any pitchiness anywhere in this part?), but I’m assuming it’s because he’s tired (as they’re on their Speak Yourself Tour right now) and I can be wrong.
0:51-1:00 – he’s on falsetto, but I think it’s at a very high range for him (what range is he singing with his falsetto?) and I thought that his falsetto was not only excessively airy but weaker than usual (???) and shaky. I also thought he was pretty pitchy at that part (but to be fair, this is probably at a very high range for him I think).
3:45-3:56 – is he singing in falsetto in that part or head-dominant mixed voice? Is he doing fine in terms of pitch (I thought it was less pitchier than his first falsetto part)?

The other member singing the intro part (no falsetto) is Jimin. Before this song, I actually never thought that he can support at all (I only thought that only Jungkook and Taehyung have support in their singing though shallow at best), but in his part (0:33-0:42), I thought I can hear very shallow support (I can be wrong though). How did Jimin do in his intro part?

Also, this is one of the rare songs that JHope got to sing as a sub-vocalist (and I hear people put him as part of the strongest vocalists of BTS…though I like JHope, this is very untrue and a reach (but he’s not the only one though lol)), and his part is 1:36-1:53. Like Taehyung, he’s a baritone too, right (also based on his part too)? Also, is there any form of support from JHope’s singing at all (maybe very shallow support lol)? Despite not being as trained as a vocalist as the vocal line, this should be a comfortable range for him too, right?

Because it’s not an important part of the content of the analysis. I’m tired of people fighting over who’s better than whom. This isn’t a game, nor a competition. It doesn’t matter who’s better. What matters is one improving themselves, being better than they used to be.

Yeah
I kinda get what u are coming from
But b*tchs are always there
U now !! Did what they wanted
Iam sorry
I know u wanted to reduce the conflict
But now they reduce tae capability
It isn’t a matter of who is the best
But it is the truth
By you experts Tae talent must be shown !!!the other toxic shitters are now happy about it
Why why did u so that
U should have ignored this shit
Now every time I try to defend tae
Of those who say he is inferior to all vocal lines
When I link this page
They say it isn’t written clearly
So it is not truth
U shouldn’t be ashamed of what u as a professional say and think it is truth
Stick with it plz
Many of us tae stans are kinda in this mess
I love the other vocalists so much
But this is a proof to his hatters
Plz bring it back
Plz
I beg you
It is the truth
U think it doesn’t matter
But it does believe me
I hate them for saying this shit
Ur analysis was my haven
Don’t care about those shitty ppl
Since day one you wrote ur analysis
They complained
What is the new ??? They will always complain
Can’t u do it
Thank u again
I hope u can answer my bleed

It isn’t a game or a competition
It is a proof for tae capability
They make his very few lines
Due to his horrible techniques and horrible stability
U have seen only 1% of hate of what I saw
I lived there
I always said that tae is a very good vocalist but they always make him not only inferior to jimin and jk but to Jin and jhope !!!!
I hate this shit
Ur analysis was my solid proof of his talent
His pure talent
U as a professional shouldn’t be shaken by this shit
I know what u have seen
And Iam sorry for asking this
But plz don’t care about them
Tae needs it
And ya his Stans needs it more
Many other salty Stans are so happy with what u did
Some told me
That he took his words cuz it isn’t credible !!
They will always find some shot to talk about
I hope u stick with ur first statement
Thank u again

In exo analysis Chen is the strongest
That is because we exols are more respectful than those toxic army
I donno who is stronger in bts
But I kinda like V and jimin voice as they are so unique
So if V is really the strongest
U should write down as u did for other groups
It is important as a group to know who is the strongest , not to degrade the others at all
But to acknowledge the talent and face the misconception that has been put in their names
For analysts ,it doesn’t matter but it actually does … the kpop world is pretty competitive
Each fan just want their fav to be the best
Dropping many wrong statements
So as a person of knowledge
Truth must be told straight
So those ppl can shut up
Some are only 10 or eleven
When they grow up they will know that they were blinded by their love and childish
But as a professional blog , it shouldn’t be affected by those
I know what army are like
I don’t hate bts but army took it way to far when they said Jongkook is better in technique and power than DO or Chen
They seem so delusional
I don’t hate the guy but they were so wrong
He has a great voice but in terms of technique Chen and DO are very strong
So the fight with those toxic fans will be forever
So if u said that V is the strongest it is okay
I saw some child arguing with u about how tae is the second best in bts ?? I didn’t see h reply to her clearly that tae is actually the best not the second best
But see what happens when u took back ur words !!!

No that’s untrue. All other analyses at first included such information but with time I started removing them though I didn’t remove them from all analyses. Technically I’m a professional vocal instructor but not a professional blogger as I’m not paid directly by readers to write so. Every fandom has bad fans who claim ridiculous stuff, are toxic and often mistreat others. I dislike the fandom culture in general so I can’t say anything.

Want to know what I think? None of it matters. We should be incredibly happy that both groups are thriving with vocalists that are incredibly loved by fans. I’ve lost count of the innumerable comments praising Baekhyun’s and V’s voices for being soothing and full of emotion and so on and so forth. All these main and lead vocals have earned a lot of love and respect with their hard work. We should just hope they continue to care for their vocal health. By the way, I am incredibly happy the title songs of both groups are less demanding for both of them. Boy with luv and Obsession hardly had any psychotic high 5th octave notes, a huge step up from songs like Let me Know and Dorado, which are rather harmful to the vocalists performing them on a consistent basis.

I feel like this vocal analysis needs to be updated just a bit not because he improved, but because I feel like he has fallen into his bad habits (like pushing back the tongue to create tongue tension and blocking the sound AND very airy/breathy (but that has always been an issue for him)) more (so more like a slight regression) to the point it’s not just a “style” anymore, but his overall technique (maybe that could be “prefers style over technique” type of thing); also his pitch has also regressed as well (I think-I don’t blame him though, BTS has a pretty intense schedule with little no break in between). His “supported range” is about the same more or less, but he is now inconsistent with support (I think) due to his bad habits and MAYBE his occasional and apparent juul usage (like “supports to an extent” type of thing).

It would be nice if there was some clarification about this since I am in the process of writing some sort of article piece considering him not for negative reasons of course, but more like an appreciation post; however I want to get the most accurate information as much as I can so I can proceed (also most accurate information as much as possible too (and I hope you guys can come back as well) since fans are now relying on less-reliable YouTube vocal coaches (not saying that they have experience or don’t know what they’re talking about) who are basically sugarcoating things (like talk about their strengths but sugarcoat or hide their weaknesses or distort information) to talk about their vocals, and it seems like a good fraction of the fandom is now believing in some false narratives regarding BTS vocalists (not just V, but the others as well) as another user in a JK vocal analysis have indicated). Thank you!

I’m sorry, I don’t know anything about singing techniques at all but when I listen to BTS performances ai always think that Jungkook is the one that sounds the best ans therefore he has the best technique. But reading previous comments it seems like in your expertise you considered V better at singing that Jungkook (but deleted that statement). My question is when you said that you meant that V has better technique than Jungkook? or just that he sounds better? do you still stand by this? could explain why pls
Although I don’t understand much about singing it was very interesting to read this and was shocked to find that you once considered V better. To my very untrained ear he’s far from being as good as Jungkook but he’s is really one of a kind and that’s why he has easily a popular voice within the bts fandom
your work is appreciated

Hi baby. Okay so one thing at a time. You asked me if it was just that he sounds better, right? See I’m not entirely sure what that means, because if you mean if I like the sound of his voice better or something then that’s subjective and irrelevant to the fundamentals this blog is built upon. My personal preference would never cloud my judgement when comparing vocalists. So yes I did mean that V had better technique than Jungkook. I believe it’s actually written in the analysis what I meant but I’ll explain again. Basically I meant that as a baritone, V’s mid range lies around A2 to D4 or so, whereas Jungkook’s mid range as a tenor lies between C3 and F#4 or so. Within their respective mid ranges, V had shown a slightly better grasp of proper breath support. Meaning, he’d connect his vocal cords with more development and strength, without pushing as much air, without squeezing his throat as much and without losing placement. Jungkook would often push air and squeeze relatively earlier than V. Now that was before V started going for that darker sound he seems to favor where he sings while pushing his tongue back, and with breathiness too. You have to keep in mind that when you listen to their music, they’re singing in the same exact key. In other words, the notes around F4 to G4 are relatively easier for Jungkook because his voice is higher. He could only sound better, it wouldn’t be helped. V is at a disadvantage having to sing with 3 other tenors while his voice is lower, he still has to hit the same notes as them. Those notes are higher for him, naturally. Now do I still stand by this? At this point I have moved away from trying to compare vocalists as that serves little purpose. In reality, neither of them have developed their voices with exceptional technique. Neither have a strong grasp of support, neither produce true resonance and both seem to favor a specific stylistic approach to singing over developing more flexible technique. Is that bad? When they strain, yes. When it’s within a relatively comfortable range, it’s fine. It’s limiting, but fine. At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter who has a slight edge over the other because neither are trying to be vocalists with exceptionally developed technique. All I wish is for them not to hurt themselves, and if they wish to develop their voices further there are many ways in which they could. But if they don’t wish to, then that’s up to them. You don’t need to have good vocal technique to be a successful singer, so if they’re happy I just wish they’re healthy and take care of their precious instruments.

Not the OP, but since I’ve asked for clarification about V about a couple of weeks ago or so, thank you for the detailed response!

Although you don’t like comparing vocalists anymore, is it safe to still say that Jungkook and V (if you ignore how he pushes back his tongue lol) have the most relaxed singing approaches out of all the vocal line when singing their repertoire in their respective comfort ranges? Also, is there anyone in BTS vocal line who has shown some sort of improvement over the past year or so (except for V obviously since he shown some sort of regression)?

Also, isn’t airiness and breathiness the same thing or is there a significant difference/borderline between “breathiness” and “sings with too much airiness”?

Also, though his support is now way more inconsistent than before due to preferring “style over technique” (which should be included in the vocal analysis to reflect this current change IMO), is his supported/comfort range is about the same (more or less)? If not, should it be changed to reflect this current change?

I am so sorry that I didn’t respond to your message directly. I’ve heard a limited amount of material for them but I wasn’t able to identify any development of technique, though yes I’d say they’re still the most relaxed for sure. Breathiness and airiness are interchangeable terms, don’t worry. I agree the analysis should include the stylistic part but I don’t believe the comfort range has changed. I would have to look more into it to be sure though.